People have already mentioned ProtonDB for games. Another website you can use for alternative versions of software is https://osalt.com/

No matter what distro you choose, expect a learning curve. Depending on your usage it can be minor or significant. You may find a simple task doesn’t work as you expect in Linux and it’s time consuming to figure it out. If you run Windows in a virtual machine on Linux or set up a dual boot system you can switch back and get the task done easily, and figure out how things work at your leisure.

When I first switched I went back to Windows a couple of times a week for simple tasks that I didn’t know how to complete in Linux. (It usually was an issue with figuring out a new application and rarely had anything to do with the OS itself.) After a couple of months I found I was wasn’t using Windows much, and in less than a year I was able to delete the Windows partition.

I’ve been on pop!_os consistently for… 3 and a bit years now? some distro hopping before then

What you should expect to change… well other than the obvious like the UI and such… chances are you’ll need a decent bit of different software than on windows, im assuming you looked into alternatives for the software you use, or if it simply just runs, so im not gonna list a bunch of stuff here :3.

Tech support online is mostly gonna be through terminal commands, which actually makes it way less painless imo since you can just copy-paste stuff instead of navigating though a bunch of interfaces.

Installing apps is different since you’ll often find multiple packages for the same thing, and have to decide between .deb or flatpak etc.

All of that seems like fairly obvious stuff you’d find along the way to the process of looking into switching to linux tbh, but I can’t think of much that’d be a major shock otherwise lol

In terms of gaming, I’ve had no major issues :3… some minor ones that were easy enough to troubleshoot did occur tho. Generally just checking out protonDB to see what people are saying in terms of compatibility is good, but basically 90% of what doesn’t run now are games with kernel level anti-cheats

This is a weird one, but read up on folder structures. If you’ve used MacOS at all then the logic is very similar. However if you’re coming from a pure windows background then it can get confusing figuring out where everything gets put when you install applications or need to make changes to config files.

The Pop desktop environment and search works well the vast majority of the time but it’s handy to know how to find you’re way around when you hit a roadblock.

Your computer to run faster? 😁

I’m not that much of a gamer, but ask your favorite search engine for winedb and protondb for details about game compatibility.

Don’t switch your OS first switch your apps to cross platform apps first that work on both Linux and Windows for all your major tasks. Then after you feel good about it then switch to Linux and switch everything no dual boot for at least 6 months or you will switch at the slightest roadblock vs just troubleshooting like you would do if you ran into a roadblock on windows.

probably a lifetime of trouble shooting and asking the internet if there’s a linux equivalent of insert name software available.

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I think you should try dual booting or try Linux in a virtual box just to check that you can do your work on Linux and if you can’t then you know the answer.

LLMs are useful when dealing with linux. Linux works different so there is learning curve esp if you want to get most out of it.

PopOS is a decent choice, however COSMIC is in late alpha with that being said it does work overall. I would not advise 22.04 at this point.

You can install classic GNOME also.

I think PopOS is a good option for gaming since ypu can get it with NVIDIA drivers included if you need them but I’d reccommend looking at Bazzite as well:

https://bazzite.gg/

Generally I’d say: Be prepared to keep an open mind, while you can use Linux like any other OS in most cases nowadays don’t get stuck on wanting to have everything, every workflow exactly like it is on Windoge. Try new things, tinker, it’s fun!

Elementary OS is beautiful, polished and easy. Maybe also check out Ubuntu Studio Edition since you do a good deal of editing? I like Pop! as well and have it on a couple of systems, but it’s nothing extremely special over others, it’s just very well-curated with regard to features and updates. They’ve tweaked a bit of stuff that’s sloppy in the main Ubuntu.

The best thing to do really is learn as you go, but definitely put some real effort into reading about the basics. The file system and the settings are both to look at first.

For good customization of your desktop if you enjoy that, go with KDE/Plasma.

You can also change later if you learn enough that you’d like to go to a more bare base system. Personally I’m on Kubuntu on my main machine but that’s only because it’s a pretty new laptop - or was when I got it - and raw Debian didn’t have the drivers yet for some of it. I’m sure by now it’s all supported and I eventually want to set aside a day to reformat and go to raw Debian. It’s my favorite distro and in the most recent version they did away with their draconic restrictions of drivers so it’s quite more accessible now.

But for a very easy and comfortable, eye-pleasing start, I’d really suggest something like ElementaryOS. It’s possibly the most beautiful looking one I’ve seen, and just jump right in and start kind of setup.

That’s my contribution to suggestions for you. Hope you make the journey easily. Linux really is phenomenal and a massive change from the disease-infested world of Windows.

Some times you may need to install a few extra stuff to get a game to run properly, other times you may see a few visual glitches like a pop-up menu not rendering properly, but you’re unlikely to find any game that just can’t run on Linux unless the devs intentionally don’t want people to play it on Linux.

Check protondb for general compatibility of any games you play.

Music production is the only reason I still have a Windows installation on dual boot. My Ableton install and stack of VSTs is holding me back.

You definitely can do music production on Linux though. Bitwig is good and works natively.

I think the biggest culture shock for a lot of people is “fewer surprises, more options.” On my machine at least, updates don’t run automatically – I might get a notification that “updates are available” but that’s it, I still have to say “okay, now is a good time to update”, it won’t surprise me with them.

Similarly, if I want to set a hotkey for like “take a screenshot of the current application”, I can do that! But the downside is that it might not be set up by default, I have to go to settings -> hotkeys or something similar.

Linux “gets out of your way” and lets you solve problems, but that also means it’s not always going to solve them for you. It’s getting better at this over time – if lots of people have the same problem, the solution might get merged “upstream”, but a lot of things are still “well, how do YOU want it to work?”.